INSIDE THE BRUINS: GM believes in Bruins

Wednesday

Feb 27, 2008 at 12:20 AM

BOSTON — The Boston Bruins played Tuesday night like a Stanley Cup contender energized by a major trade-deadline acquisition, but their 4-0 win over the Ottawa Senators at TD Banknorth Garden wasn't fueled by Marian Hossa, Brian Campbell or any other big-time mover.

MICK COLAGEO

BOSTON — The Boston Bruins played Tuesday night like a Stanley Cup contender energized by a major trade-deadline acquisition, but their 4-0 win over the Ottawa Senators at TD Banknorth Garden wasn't fueled by Marian Hossa, Brian Campbell or any other big-time mover.

Of the 25 deals made between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m., Boston and Philadelphia were the only two Eastern Conference teams uninvolved, and the Flyers made a major trade on Monday night.

For better or worse, these are your B's.

Lying low at the deadline is nothing new, but it comes as a surprise in a season the Bruins desperately need to extend into the second week of April.

Under pressure to make the playoffs for the first time since before the 2004-05 lockout that took the NHL off the radar screen and drained the interest of many fans, general manager Peter Chiarelli passed up two significant opportunities to bolster his lineup. Standing pat is a decision he might end up regretting, but he left a day of fruitless negotiations feeling like he had done the right thing.

"I have to figure out a way to get us into the playoffs, but there are risks in everything and I'm prepared to take them. That's why I'm in this seat and in this job," said Chiarelli. "In the East, two teams got better, and the rest stayed the same. At the end, we were finalists for two deals and they didn't happen."

The two teams he was referring to were Pittsburgh and Washington.

The Penguins, Thursday night's opponent here, won the hunt for Hossa, acquiring the elite right winger along with grinder Pascal Dupuis from Atlanta for an impressive package of forwards Colby Armstrong and Erik Christensen, prospect Angelo Esposito and a first-round draft pick.

For Chiarelli to beat Pittsburgh's offer, it would have taken Phil Kessel, a first-rounder and at least two solid prospects. But giving up the best of his youth was something Chiarelli didn't want to do, despite losing out on trades he admitted would have improved the Bruins.

"In one of them, they ended up asking for too much, and the other I still don't know why we didn't get it done because the GM never got back to me — and that happens," he said. "But I went into (Tuesday) knowing that if I came out of the day with nothing, I'm still satisfied. I like the chemistry of our team, and there's always the chance we may get a couple of injured guys back, which to me is as good as a trade."

Now that Patrice Bergeron is skating, hope has revived in a potential comeback. But there is no timetable on concussions, only the amount of time it would take the young forward to get into game condition once it's determined he can withstand exercise at peak-performance heart rates.

Goaltender Manny Fernandez (knee) is also a long shot, but defenseman Andrew Alberts (neck) is likely to return.

"We've gone through some ups and downs, and the one thing that impresses me the most is that these guys have stuck together through thick and thin and so far have been rewarded with being in a playoff hunt," said Bruins coach Claude Julien.

Right now, the Bruins are more than hunting.

With Tuesday night's win, they are 5-0-1 in their last six, 10 games above .500 for the first time since 2004, and six points out of first place in the Northeast Division with two games in hand. After a four-game drought that lasted four weeks, they even showed they can win on home ice, which will be handy for confidence in March.

The road to the playoffs is 20 games longer, which is ample time for potholes, problems, doubts and second guessing of the plan to go with what they've got.

"It's expensive, especially getting a player like that and no knowing if you're going to be able to sign him or not," said Chiarelli of Hossa, who will be a free agent on July 1 and could leave Pittsburgh empty handed when this season is over. "There's always a team that's going to pay that amount. (Pittsburgh is) a heckuva team. They're going to get (Sidney) Crosby back, too, and that's going to be two serious lines they have going there and one serious power play. We'll see it Thursday night."

Mick Colageo covers the Bruins for The Standard-Times and cohosts the New England Hockey Journal Show on 890ESPN (hockeyjournal.com) Saturdays at 11 a.m. Contact him at mcolageo@s-t.com